| From Publishers Weekly When 15-year-old Mary Fred Anderson's parents are charged with second-degree murder in the neglectful death of their son， Mary Fred is sent from the fundamentalist commune she's grown up in to the nearby Maryland suburbs and the foster care of a quirky 1990s family headed by librarian Alice Cullison， in this topical but uneven debut. A single mom， Alice lives with her brother， Roy， and her sullen 15-year-old daughter， Heather. Bardi has set up a high-concept collision involving several timely issues: cult religions and drugs (Roy spends his days working a scam that enables him to buy heroin， but Heather is too self-absorbed to notice and Alice too flummoxed). Despite the use of multiple narrators the novel is divided into the Book of Mary Fred， the Book of Alice， the Book of Roy and the Book of Heather characters are not fully developed because they are captive to the plot. (Bardi is good at interior dialogue， however， as when Heather muses， "I don't like anything about Sara. For one thing， she's very polite and self-confident and she talks to adults like she's their oldest friend.") The result is unsatisfactory ambiguity: Bardi wants us to take seriously the members of her cobbled-together family， but throws in a kitchen-sinkful of colorful secondary characters for comic effect; the Cullisons' neighbor Paula， for instance， is a postoperative transsexual heavily dependent on astrology. The contrast between the hardworking， literal-minded Mary Fred and the materialistic， self-absorbed Heather is potentially most interesting， but their relationship is not thoroughly fleshed out. Bardi's message may be that cult member or not， we each carry the burden of a belief system a sound enough idea， but one only sketchily developed. (Sept.)Forecast: Bardi pushes lots of hot buttons here， and browsers may bite when they scan the cover copy; the quirky title will help， too. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information， Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From School Library Journal Adult/High School-This story of two 15-year-olds from disparate backgrounds is told with humor， understanding， and love. Mary Fred was raised in a fundamentalist community; her parents are jailed for allowing two of their sons to die from untreated illness. Alice， a single parent who lives in what seems to be an idyllic suburban neighborhood with her daughter Heather and her brother Roy， is appointed Mary Fred's guardian. From living with little schooling and in isolation， the teen is plunged into Heather's world of TV， pizza， high school， and a family that is shockingly disorderly and undisciplined. Mary Fred proceeds to clean and organize the household and get the family members to eat their dinner at the table and actually talk to one another. Heather metamorphoses from a TV and snack-food addicted couch potato into a reasonably polite and helpful daughter. In turn， Mary Fred begins to read books other than the New Testament and the Book of Fred， the dictum of her former community， and becomes a fan of Judge Judy. Just when these characters have melded into a caring family， a horrible act of violence at school leaves the protagonist close to death. The climax to the story， Mary Fred's return home， is both riveting and satisfying.Molly Connally， Kings Park Library， Fairfax County， VACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information， Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews |
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